As we continue to offer pro-life, healthy, family-oriented alternatives to abortion, we will once again be running pro-life billboards in the city of Milwaukee. The billboards (above) connect women to a 24-hour crisis pregnancy counseling hotline.

Starting Monday, January 31, the above billboard can be found at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue & 27th Street and the intersection of North Avenue & 17th Street. The billboards will be at these locations for a month and will be in different spots in Milwaukee every month. Both billboards are intentionally located near Planned Parenthoods.

Last year, more than 400 women in Milwaukee called the hotline for crisis pregnancy help. Imagine that — 400 babies saved through a billboard! We’re excited for what this year will bring.

Photo, above: An estimated crowd of 400,000 participated in the March for Life. The crowd grew and grew for two hours.

Every year, the March for Life gets bigger and bigger. And Wisconsin continues to be well-represented! Pro-Life Wisconsin also held affiliate observances of Roe v. Wade around the state on January 22.

Approximately 16 buses from around Wisconsin traveled to Washington, DC for the March. Many carloads of people drove separately, and dozens of students from several Milwaukee-area colleges and high schools flew out.Fr. Mark Carr led a group of Milwaukee students from Marquette University High School and Divine Saviour Holy Angels schools. Read an article about that here.

Read an article about the Vigil for Life Mass, held the night before the March, here.

Rep. Sean Duffy and Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner both spoke to a packed crowd in the National Mall before the March kicked off. Read an article about the speeches from LifeSiteNews here.

After the rally, Rep. Duffy held a pro-life reception for people from Wisconsin at his office. Hundreds of people turned out to visit Duffy’s office.

Photo, below, l-r: Peggy Hamill, Virginia Zignego, Rep. Duffy and Bobby Hamill, Peggy’s son and a staffer in Duffy’s office.

Above: Pro-Life Wisconsin at the March for Life in Washington, D.C.

January 22, 2011 will mark the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion. More than 53.5 million lives in the United States have been lost because of abortion, a casualty that continues to grow daily.

While hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers descend on Washington, D.C. in protest of Roe v. Wade, Pro-Life Wisconsin affiliates throughout Wisconsin have local events occurring to mark January 22.

In addition to the planned affiliate events, two buses with over one hundred representatives of Pro-Life Wisconsin will leave Friday, January 21 as part of Pro-Life Wisconsin’s annual pilgrimage to the March for Life in Washington, D.C. There they will join an estimated crowd of 350,000 pro-life activists from across the country in what has become one of the nation’s largest marches for social reform.

The impact of Roe v. Wade in Wisconsin has resulted in more than 500,000 babies killed through elective abortion. Abortions, especially chemical abortions, are on the rise in our state; abortion is a tragedy, happening in communities every day in Wisconsin.

The following are planned PLW affiliate events for the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Join us if you can!:

PLW Jefferson County: Watertown Pro-Life Group is holding a Roe v. Wade Memorial Event on Saturday, Jan. 22 at St. Henry’s Catholic Church, 412 N. Fourth Street, Watertown. Fr. Brian Wilk will celebrate Mass at 8:30 am, followed by 1 hour Eucharistic Adoration & Benediction.

PLW Winnebago County and Outagamie County: Prayer Vigil on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 10 am. at Planned Parenthood, located at 3800 Gillett St., Grand Chute.

PLW Marathon County: Pro-Life Rally at St. Mary’s Oratory, 325 Grand Ave, Wausau, Sunday, January 23. Outside Rally begins after Mass at 11 a.m. with prayer services inside and outside.

PLW Juneau County: The Juneau County March for Life will be held Thursday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. It starts at the Juneau County Courthouse. The 38 minute Prayer-March will be followed by Prayer, Speakers and Reception at the First Baptist Church, 148 Grayside Ave., Mauston.

PLW Bayfield County: On January 22, Pro-Life Wisconsin-Bayfield County will hold prayers for all nascent human life at St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church after the 4 p.m. Mass.

PLW Crawford County: Cenacles of Life will observe Roe v. Wade with the Divine Mercy Chaplet, three Rosaries and Fasting on Friday, Jan. 21 at 3 p.m. at St. John’s in Prairie du Chien, 710 S Wacouta Ave. PLW-Crawford County will also hold a prayer vigil from 10:30-11:30 a.m. at Options in Prairie du Chien (103 N Wacouta Ave, Prairie du Chien, WI 53821) on Saturday, January 22.

PLW St. Croix County: Prayer Service for Life, January 22, Saturday, Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Paul, MN, 10:30-11:30. Immediately after the Prayer Service for Life, we will promote the culture of life by walking to the St. Paul State Capitol to listen to speakers and participate in other public events. Please call Darla Meyers at (715) 386-1089 for carpooling information. We will depart from the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Hudson, parking lot at 9:30 a.m. January 22.

PLW Rock County will join the Rockford Pro-Life Group on Jan. 21 at 7:30 a.m. at Rockford’s Abortion Mill, 1400 Broadway, Rockford, Ill. On Saturday Jan. 22, PLW Rock County will hold prayers in the South Beloit Adoration Chapel, 11 a.m. to noon.

Vigil for Life of Madison: Prayer vigil at Planned Parenthood, Saturday Jan. 22 at 1 p.m. Planned Parenthood, 3706 Orin Rd., Madison. Father William Vernon, from the Diocese of Madison, will lead prayers.

PLW Kenosha County will hold a prayer vigil on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 11 a.m. in front of Planned Parenthood, 3601 Roosevelt Rd., Kenosha.
PLW Hayward County: Queen of Peace, Protector of Life will participate in two pro-life Masses at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 10586 Dakota Ave., Hayward. The 4pm Mass on Saturday, Jan. 22 and the 10am Mass on Sunday, Jan. 23 will have special pro-life prayers said and pro-life information will be distributed to the congregation.

PLW Milwaukee County will observe Roe v. Wade with prayer and sidewalk counseling at Affiliated Medical Services in Milwaukee on Saturday, Jan. 22.

An open records request conducted by Pro-Life Wisconsin has revealed the state’s abortion facilities are not inspected by the Department of Health Services and no records exist of any such past inspections. Furthermore, there is no state statute mandating health inspections of the state’s abortuaries.

January 22 marks the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and a death toll of 53.5 million babies aborted nationwide.  Abortion may be legal, but here in Wisconsin, it is neither safe nor rare. We have seen women rushed by ambulance to a hospital after botched abortions. We know women who have committed suicide after having an abortion. Abortion hurts women!

By contrast, all restaurants in Wisconsin receive a health inspection at least once per year.

Whether a facility heals or kills, there are standards of care that must be adhered to. It is unbelievable that abortion facilities do not receive even the scrutiny that a fast food restaurant does. At the end of the day, the state of Wisconsin and the health department are responsible for the health of the public.

This morning, news services across the country reported the horrifying circumstances surrounding a Philadelphia abortionist’s practice:

An abortion doctor who catered to minorities, immigrants and poor women was charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a patient and seven babies who were born alive and then killed with scissors, prosecutors said Wednesday… Patients were subjected to squalid and barbaric conditions at Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society.

Makes you wonder what all Wisconsin’s abortion facilities have to hide. So much for safety.

From a 2006 WND article: Recent investigations at abortion clinics in several states have shown that such businesses are not just a danger to unbornchildren, but also to the immediate health and welfare of the mothers that enter their doors. In the past two months, Alabama’s health department has shut down two of the state’s 10 abortion clinics for health code violations and Florida’s health department has shut down five.

In Arizona, “In 1999 a bill was passed to regulate abortion clinics.  Before the law could take effect, a lawsuit was filed that “stayed” the regulation of abortion clinics until a settlement agreement could be finalized with the Department and the plaintiffs.  Last year the settlement agreement was finalized and the Department was able to write rules for the regulation of abortion clinics. The new rules are complete and have been filed with the Secretary of State’s office; they go into effect on November 1, 2010.”